Jason genge (A Bitcoin Lover) - what is ethereum ?
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The document explains the concept and architecture of blockchain technology, introduced by Bitcoin as a decentralized peer-to-peer database, where each block contains transaction data linked in a chain. It highlights the mechanism of consensus used to verify new transactions through mining, and its evolution into a general-purpose computing platform with the introduction of Ethereum, which allows for programmable smart contracts. Additionally, it discusses decentralized messaging and file sharing protocols, Whisper and Swarm, that complement the Ethereum network.
Jason genge (A Bitcoin Lover) - what is ethereum ?
- 2. The Blockchain ■ In 2008,Bitcoinwas launchedas a peer-to-peer database that reliedona new data structure referredto as the‘blockchain’. ■ The blockchain consists of blocks,whereeach block holds a set of transactions anda reference to the previous block.This helped create a chain of all transactions that ever occurred. ■ This data structure is replicated across all participating nodes so that every participant is aware of the transactions withouthavingtoget them froma centralauthority. - - - - - - - - - ethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 3. Distributed Consensus ■ In orderto control how new blocks (with new transactions) are added to the chain,the design relies ona consensus mechanism which requires anyone (a nodeinthe peerto peernetwork) who wouldlike to nominate a new block (with new transactions it has gatheredfromits peers) to solve a puzzle that requires significant computations (computer processing power). The difficulty of this puzzle is dynamically adjustedsuch that it takes on average 10 minutes for any one nodeto solve the puzzle.Aprocess knownasmining. ■ Whenever a nodesolves the puzzle andcreate the new block (which includes new transactions that it has gatheredfromother peers aroundit), the nodeis rewarded with an amountof newBitcoins which it can use to pay for the cost of solving the puzzle (computer equipmentandelectricity). - - - - - - - - - ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 4. Decentralization ■ Given the architecture of the blockchain,the database continues to grow so longasnodes keeptryingto nominate andverify newblocks regardless of nodes joiningorleaving the network ■ The factthat the entiredatabase exists without dependingona single node,makes it very powerful andalmost impossible to alter or destroy (the decentralized feature of the blockchain) ■ The integrity/validityof transactions inthe block chain is ensured throughthe use of cryptographic techniques that make itefficient to verify if any invalid transactions have been added - - - - - - - - - ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 5. Beyond Bitcoin ■ The architecture of the blockchain is very powerful as it enables decentralization while maintainingsecurity. This has significant implications onthe design of computersystems asit allows computerapplications to be scalable andreduce the requirementfor a large central infrastructure ■ While the first successful use of the blockchain database architecture was demonstrated onthe Bitcoin network, manystarted exploringhow theycan utilize this design for othertransactions beyondvalue transfer transactions which Bitcoin mainlyhandles - - - - - - - - - ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 6. Towards a Peer to Peer Computing Framework ■ While, the design of the blockchain solved many issues when it comes to decentralizing and securing transactions. There was noeasy way to specify logic that made use of that database for purposes beyond the transfer of value between accounts. ■ The Ethereumproject set out to design the required pieces to evolve the blockchain froma distributed transactional database to be part of a general purposepeerto peercomputing framework. ■ At the heart of ethereumis a virtual machine capable of executing instructions knownasthe EthereumVirtual Machine (EVM), it allows the executionof programmedinstructions stored within theblockchain - - - - - - - - - ethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 7. - - - - - - - - - The Blockchain of State and Transactions ■ To introducethe ability to execute programs, the blockchain was modifiedsuch that each block not only contains the latesttransactions butalso the latest state of memberprograms (aka., contracts). ■ With every new block the state of contracts in the blockchain is updatedper the processed transactions therebytaking the blockchain toa new state. ■ As amean to ensure that provided instructions do not runforever, a constraint is builtinto the execution of every contract so that any party invokinga contract ina transaction is required to provide special tokens of monetaryvalue that get consumed dependingonthe number of instructions andthe storage used bythe contract. ethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 8. Contracts as Accounts ■ Acontract has a permanentaddressonthe blockchain which gets assigned when it is created. This permanentaddress isused to identifythecontract. ■ Every contract contains a balance of the basic monetaryunitin the ethereumnetwork referred to as ether. ■ If a contract does not includeany programmed instructions,it behaves as an account. It has an address anda balance. This account can receive/send ethers from/to other accounts/contracts. Address Balance ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 9. Contracts as Decentralized Executable Programs ■ Ether is requiredto call a contract, this is done to ensure that infiniteexecutiondoes notoccur as the executionstops the momentthe ether amountsent along with the call isconsumed ■ When a contract is called, a small amountof ether is requiredto be sent along with the call. This amount is eventually transferredto the nodethat gets to nominatethe nextblock inthe blockchain. However, whena contract is called, an amountof ethercan be directly transferred to that contract therebyinstituting a balance transfer like in the case of apayment ■ When referringto the calling of acontract, it is in reference to invokingone of the methods in the programmedinstructions which can be used to execute a certainaction Fields - - Methods - - Events - - Address Balance ethereumethereum
- 10. Contracts as Decentralized Executable Programs ■ The executionof amethodcan modifythe state of the contract bymanipulatingone ormoreof its fields ■ Acontract can also have set of events which are used to notify interested parties of the occurrence of certain events duringthelifetime of thecontract ■ Acontract lives forever onthe blockchain once it is created unless, the originalinstructions made use of the suicide feature,afeature which destroys a contract andtransfers its ether balance to another account Fields - - Methods - - Events - - Address Balance ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 11. Messaging and File Sharing... ethereum swarm whisper ■ In additionto the use ofthe ethereumvirtual machine to execute contract logic. The ethereumproject also introducedtwo additional protocols to provide peerto peer supportfor exchangingmessage as well exchanging static files ■ The peerto peerprotocol used forexchanging message is named whisper andit provides a powerfuldistributedandprivate messaging capabilities with support for single cast, multicast andbroadcastmessages ■ The peerto peerprotocol used forexchanging static files is namedswarm andit provides a new incentivized approach to distributestatic content amongpeers andexchange them efficiently ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 12. Decentralized Messaging ■ Whisper provides a peerto peerprotocolfor exchangingshort timedmessagesprivately ■ Whisper relies ona subject key (Topic) approach to deliver messages wheremessages are published usinga hashedtopic ■ Messages can beencryptedwith a specific key for privacy ■ Indirectly supportsbroadcast, multicast and unicast ■ Whisper is ahighlatency andlow bandwidth messagingprotocol ■ Provides the ability to use masks/filters to narrow down topics of interest withoutgiving away what topic is beingsought whisper ethereumethereum
- 13. Incentivized File Transfer ... swarm ■ Leverages the underlyingethereum infrastructure throughthe use of acontracts andethers to encourage cooperationamong nodes ■ Filesare split into chunkswhich are stored in nodes in thenetwork ■ An accounting protocol is used bypeers tokeep track of chunks delivered andreceived and resultingmicro- payments owed ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge
- 14. DEMO ■ Assume we wouldliketo createa smart door which opens upif given the rightkey. ■ Addinganew user requiredtwo ormoreusers to authenticate thetransaction. ethereumethereumJason Simeon Genge